In a startling new review study, European researchers claim that the spread of some dangerous chemicals is so widespread that rainwater from remote areas like Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau might contain toxic amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment.
A substantial body of evidence indicating potentially hazardous effects on human health has led to the phase-out of numerous PFAS compounds from production contexts over the past 20 years. However, just because we stopped using these chemicals doesn’t mean they’ve instantaneously vanished from our planet. PFAS has frequently been referred to as “forever chemicals” due to their long-lasting impacts on our ecosystem.
According to a recent study, as we learned more about how harmful these chemicals are, the suggested safe levels for PFAS have steadily decreased in recent years. And currently, several guidelines advise using PFAS at safe levels lower than the average levels found in the natural environment.
Researchers from Stockholm University and ETH Zurich published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. It has been discovered that PFASs, which are also called ‘forever chemicals’, in rainwater have reached unsafe levels, and they are now ubiquitous. PFAS are a large group of over 4700 industrial chemicals that are commonly found in everyday products such as foods and food packaging, clothes, toiletries, cosmetics, and even cookware. PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid) are two types of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Ian Cousins, the study’s lead author said, “There has been an astounding decline in guideline values for PFAS in drinking water in the last 20 years. For example, the drinking water guideline value for one well-known substance in the PFAS class, namely the cancer-causing perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), has declined by 37.5 million times in the U.S.”
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the U.S. warned that lifetime exposure to “near zero” levels of PFOA in drinking water could harm one’s health. However, according to a recent study, the issue is that PFOA concentrations in rainfall around the globe have risen above the levels considered safe by the EPA. This includes water samples from distant regions like the Tibetan Plateau and Antarctica.
Cousins added, “Based on the latest U.S. guidelines for PFOA in drinking water, rainwater everywhere would be judged unsafe to drink. Although we don’t often drink rainwater in the industrial world, many people around the world expect it to be safe to drink, and it supplies many of our drinking water sources.”
The new study focused on four specific PFAS pollutants found in our environment. It found that although these four compounds have generally decreased over the past several years due to environmental factors, they will likely continue to cycle in the hydrosphere for a very long time.
Over time, the values used to set PFAS limits in drinking water, surface water, and soil have changed significantly. Now, rainwater is currently too polluted with toxic chemicals for drinking, according to researchers.
“There has been an astounding decline in guideline values for PFAS in drinking water in the last 20 years. For example, the drinking water guideline value for one well-known substance in the PFAS class, namely the cancer-causing perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), has declined by 37.5 million times in the U.S.,” Ian Cousins said in a news release.
Martin Scheringer, the study’s co-author, explained, “So now, due to the global spread of PFAS, environmental media everywhere will exceed environmental quality guidelines designed to protect human health. We can do very little to reduce PFAS contamination. In other words, it makes sense to define a planetary boundary specifically for PFAS, and, as we conclude in the paper, this boundary has now been exceeded.”
The claim that the presence of these compounds in rainwater is “practically irreversible” may be the most concerning aspect of the new study. Although the overall long-term health implications of very low-level exposure to these four PFAS chemicals are still unknown, the researchers emphasize that numerous more less-studied PFAS compounds are currently in use.
The researchers call for immediate limitations on usage of the entire class of PFAS compounds, as it is likely that the few harmful PFAS chemicals mentioned in the report are simply the “tip of the iceberg.”
PFAS have been linked to a wide range of serious health risks, including cancer, learning issues in children, fertility issues, pregnancy complications, increased cholesterol, and immune system problems, among others.
Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum in Switzerland, said that companies should not be allowed to “benefit economically while polluting the drinking water for millions of others and causing serious health problems.”
“The vast amounts that it will cost to reduce PFAS in drinking water to levels that are safe based on current scientific understanding need to be paid by the industry producing and using these toxic chemicals,” said Muncke. “The time to act is now.”
The study concludes, “In view of the impacts of humanity’s chemical footprint on planetary health, it is of great importance to avoid further escalation of the problem of large-scale and long-term environmental and human exposure to PFAS by rapidly restricting uses of PFAS wherever possible. Furthermore, as has been stated by ourselves and others before, society should not continually repeat the same mistakes with other persistent chemicals.”
The new review was published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal on August 2, 2022. In the years since, Europe has begun turning these findings into legislation, with Denmark, France, and Sweden now enacting national PFAS bans ahead of a planned EU-wide restriction.
